Jermaine Jenas delivers his first statement before the interview has even
begun. He is wearing a striking T-shirt that proudly carries the image of
Muhammad Ali on the front with the phrase “float like a butterfly, sting
like a bee” emblazoned across the back.

In a good place: Jermaine Jenas is finally seeing Tottenham fulfil the ambition that persuaded him to join the clubPhoto: GEOFF PUGH

Within only a few minutes of talking, it becomes clear that Jenas, who was born two years after Ali’s last professional bout, is an encyclopedia on the man commonly regarded as the greatest sportsman in history.

“Coming from a black family, he was one of the idols that was put forward to me as a kid and I embraced it,” he says. “I’ve watched all the documentaries. I think you can take something from his story, with the confidence he used to bring into the ring but also how graceful he was in defeat. He overcame setbacks and won when it was not expected.”

Jenas hopes to be part of a major sporting upset tomorrow night when Tottenham Hotspur face Real Madrid, the nine-times European champions, in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. Tottenham will enter the contest with confidence. “We can’t wait. We are so excited but also we are focused and we believe,” says Jenas. “The pressure is on them. We are the underdogs. We have nothing to lose but, as players, we know how we feel.”

Jenas, who has played in seven of Tottenham’s eight Champions League matches, pinpoints two pivotal moments that helped the players to develop the belief that they could compete with any club in Europe. “First half away to Werder Bremen, we took them to the cleaners,” he says. “We didn’t win the game but, from that moment, we looked at each other and said, ‘we can go through here’. It was our first moment in the Champions League.

“Still, at that point, we didn’t dream of playing at the Bernabéu in the quarter-finals. The ‘nearly’ comeback against Inter Milan was another big moment. We started doing things that people just did not see happening. We went to Milan and were 4-0 down and got three goals back with 10 men. We then went to Emirates. We were 2-0 down and won 3-2. When thinks like that happen, it generates belief and that’s what we have.”

In his sixth season at Tottenham, the club are fulfilling the ambition that persuaded Jenas to join. “It’s where I saw it could be,” he says. “It was the reason I wanted to join: a group of young English players with good foreign players around us. I always knew this club had the quality, the ability, the vision and the ambition to go forward. When we finished fifth [under Martin Jol], we weren’t happy.”

Harry Redknapp is Jenas’s third Tottenham manager and he believes that the critical change was re-signing key strikers after Juande Ramos had been forced to cope with the sales of Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov. “Three in one year was probably a bit much to deal with,” he says. “We got the goals back and since Harry came it has been up and up. Come the end of the season, we won’t be happy if we are not fourth, which shows how far Harry has brought us.

“The players they are probably looking to bring in next year, the players they want to keep, it’s all probably on us finishing in those Champions League positions. We have got to do that.”

In Jose Mourinho, the Real Madrid manager, Jenas will face an admirer tomorrow. When he was rebuilding the Inter Milan team who would go on to win the Champions League, Mourinho singled out Jenas and Didier Drogba as Premier League players he particularly admired.

“He’s one of the greatest managers of our time,” says Jenas. “If someone like Mourinho says he rates you, it does fill you with confidence. On a personal note, it gives me some fulfillment knowing that he appreciates the way I play, which sometimes can go unnoticed.”

Yet, at 28, Jenas is clearly content at Tottenham during what should be the peak years of his career. “I’m never comfortable — I believe there is more to come but I have been playing consistently at a top team with some of the top players in the world,” he says.

Jermaine Jenas was speaking on behalf of Thomas Cook Sport, official travel partner of Tottenham Hotspur. Secure your seat at a Spurs home game before the end of the season with a Thomas Cook Sport Match Break available online at www.thomascooksport.com or by calling 0844 800 9900.